


Good With Me

by deadinderry



Category: Metallica
Genre: kea era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:01:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24057907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadinderry/pseuds/deadinderry
Summary: There is one person that Kirk still can’t figure out, and that person is James. KEA-era.
Kudos: 18





	Good With Me

**Author's Note:**

> i have realized that the only person i have not shoved kirk in a room with so far is james, so i decided to, and this is what happened.

There is one person that Kirk still can’t figure out, and that person is James.

Cliff and Lars are easy—Cliff is probably the coolest guy he’s ever met, and they get along great, and they have a ton in common. Lars is hyper-fixated on success and girls and _being in a band_. But James is something else.

It probably doesn’t help that Exodus would hang out with Metallica, before Dave got kicked out, because Kirk remembers going to Metallica shows and seeing Dave act as the frontman. James would sing, sure, but Dave would talk. James was a little less shy in person—and honestly, Kirk gets being shy. He really does. A lot of the time _he’s_ pretty shy. Lars is the opposite of shy and Cliff is too cool to ever be shy, if he’s not talking it’s because he doesn’t want to be, but Kirk feels like James’s social anxiety is maybe the most relatable thing about him.

But now that Dave’s out and Kirk’s in, James has taken over as the major stage presence, at least when it comes to talking to the crowd (Kirk does, privately, think that Cliff’s stage presence is rivaled by literally none of them, just his don’t-give-a-fuck attitude mixed with his constant double denim and absolute monster headbanging), and while he’s pretty similar offstage to how he was before Kirk joined the band, Kirk privately has a feeling that James is constantly a little pissed at him for the sheer fact that he’s not Dave. Which… honestly, Kirk thought they picked him because he _wasn’t_ Dave. He can get James being frustrated at the difference in playing, sure—Dave Mustaine is a fast fucking player. Fast doesn’t necessarily mean _good_ , not all the time, anyway, but Kirk can see where there’s a difference, playing with them. But personality-wise, him and Cliff have talked about how nasty Dave could get when he was drunk. Kirk doesn’t think he’s really capable of being nasty, and even if he was—

Kirk Hammett is, physically, a lot smaller than Dave Mustaine, and James or Cliff would have no trouble holding him down.

But it’s just the two of them right now. Cliff is off doing god-knows-what and Lars is off probably… doing something productive for the band, maybe, making connections or probably, honestly, just at a concert or a bar. Kirk doesn’t know why James isn’t off, either. He knows why he’s not, he’s not because he hasn’t been getting any privacy lately, and it’s starting to wear on his nerves a little. It was different when he was back home, with Exodus—with Exodus, sure, he had his dreams, but there was never the idea that they would get as big as Metallica is getting. And back home with Exodus they weren’t in a new state shoved in with each other and also the Anthrax guys most of the time.

But James was drinking and watching TV and Kirk figured that wasn’t too bad. So he grabbed a beer of his own and sat down beside him.

“Hey,” James said.

“Hi,” Kirk said. Suddenly, weirdly, nervous—it was stupid as fuck to be nervous around your own _bandmates_ , he was never nervous around Cliff or Lars, but James was a different beast altogether. “Why aren’t you out with the other guys?”

“Didn’t feel like it,” James said. He shrugged. “What about you?”

“There have been too many people lately,” Kirk said, and James laughed, a little. “Seriously. I like you guys, and the Anthrax guys, but—there have been _way_ too many people around lately. I need some privacy.”

“Yeah,” James said. He took another drink. The TV was playing a horror movie, unfortunately cut for TV, so all the best bits were cut out—Kirk could still recognize it, though. It did, maybe, take all he had to not straight-up ignore James at this point and just watch it. “Cliff says you’re into this stuff.”

“Yeah,” Kirk said.

“Cliff’s got a—he likes you, a lot,”James said. “And I mean—Cliff’s probably the smartest guy here, in the band.”

“Definitely, yeah,” Kirk said.

“So—you’re good with me,” James said. He was quiet after that, and Kirk glanced over at him again. James was beet-red.

“Cool,” Kirk said.

He left it at that.

It was enough.


End file.
